Improved Alliance travels to healing Minerva

The suddenly red hot Alliance Aviators will make a trip down Route 183 Friday night for a Northeastern Buckeye Conference meeting with the Minerva Lions.

Alliance (2-6 overall, 2-3 in the NBC) has a young team which has improved tremendously throughout the season. That has resulted in one-sided wins the last two weeks over Salem (44-14) and Carrollton (33-14).

"It's good to see the kids benefit from all of the hard work this year," said Alliance head coach Mike Schott. "We've gotten better each week. We're just taking it one week at a time."

A good indication of the Aviators' improvement can be seen in this simple statistic. In the past two weeks, Alliance has scored 77 points and surrendered just 28.

Alliance, which runs the pistol offense, features several playmakers.

"They're more patient offensively than last year," Minerva head coach Dale Soles said of the Aviators. "They put together plays that fit together. They've done a good job of establishing the run, then they'll use the pass. Their quarterback (Kordelle Phillips) has good feet and does a good job extending plays."

Phillips threw for 317 yards and a touchdown during last week's win over Carrollton. Parrish Martin had a big game receiving with seven catches for 159 yards and J.J. Kukura had five for 102 yards and Ryan Bevington had three catches for 52 yards.

Minerva (3-5 overall and 1-4 in the NBC) is coming off a 31-19 league triumph over the Salem Quakers.

The Lions have also battled youth this season, but have also been without some key performers in several games this fall due to injury.

"They're a good program," said Schott of the Lions. "They're young this season, but they're competitors. They do a good job and we have to be able to stop the run. We have to go down there Friday night and execute."

"We're playing a lot of younger players and we've had a lot of injuries," Soles said. "We've played hard, but we have to use a lot of kids both ways and we don't have much depth."

Because of injury, the Lions have played two quarterbacks this season. Senior Jake Riley started the season at quarterback before suffering an injury which sidelined him for games against West Branch and Marlington. Riley returned last week and played quarterback and running back. He leads the team with 649 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns, and has also passed for 409 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Josey Riley, Jake Riley's younger brother, is 34-of-74 passing for 417 yards and has thrown two touchdowns.

"They have different skills and we try to run plays that suit them the best," Soles said.

Jake Riley, sophomore Dalton Hartshorn and senior Mitch Soles are the top three running backs for the Lions, who have accrued 1,368 yards on the ground.

Hartshorn is also a pass receiving threat, scoring four times. Junior Cody Parrish leads the Lions with 42 catches.

Minerva will face an Alliance defense which has taken on a new identity since switching schemes and some personnel.

"Seth McConnell had four sacks last week," praised Schott, who has been very pleased with the Aviators' defensive effort over the second half of the season.

"Really, since the West Branch game (in Week IV) we have improved and played well on defense," praised Schott.

"They're very aggressive," Soles said of the Aviators' defense. "They send six people and also have kids on the edge who can cover receivers."

Minerva's defense has been changing, especially up front due to injuries. The Lions have yielded 2,480 yards, including 1,560 yards on the ground. Mitch Soles, who also plays linebacker, leads the team in tackles with 89. Junior linebacker Harrison Hopple is second with 68 stops.

Sophomore defensive lineman Wylie Brown has recorded a team-high four sacks and Parrish, who anchors the secondary, has intercepted a team-high four passes.